Egypt's Kima and Helwan restart urea production

Egyptian fertilizer suppliers Kima and Helwan have restarted granular urea output, following shutdowns on 16 July.

Helwan brought its 650,000 t/yr granular urea plant back on line during the evening of 16 July. It is now running at 80pc and expects product to be available from 18 July.

Kima restarted its 570,000 t/yr granular urea plant earlier today and is running at around 75pc of capacity. Both producers had been running at 80pc of capacity from 2 July to 16 July.

There has been no update regarding Abu Qir's prilled urea plant, which also went off line on 16 July.

Most of the country's remaining urea plants have been operating at 80pc. Mopco is running only two of its three granular urea plants at 80pc, while EFC's production status has yet to be confirmed.

Urea export offers had started at $380-390/t fob Egypt earlier in the week, but fresh liquidity emerged yesterday, with NCIC selling 5,000t lots at $362-367/t fob for loading at the end of this month.

A gas supply crunch in Egypt has hampered urea production since 20 May, as the country prioritised gas deliveries to power plants to meet summer cooling demand. But LNG imports eased the balance at the beginning of July. Egypt fixed at least 17 LNG cargoes in a 25 June tender — seven for July, six for August and four for September.

By Harry Minihan